American Adventure: My Uncle is Don Quixote

"Lily!" Don Quixote’s bellow seemed to shake the ceiling. "Are you ready yet!"

"Coming!" Lily shrieked. "Don’t rush me!"

She had been standing in front of her full-length mirror for over half an hour. Clothes were piled all over the floor, and she’d already switched out her school bag several times.

In the end, she settled on a backpack with a wider opening, making sure exactly one-third of the water bottle’s LV logo was showing—no more, no less. It had to be just visible enough without looking too deliberate.

At first, she’d wanted to carry the water bottle to school by hand, but after a moment’s thought, she decided that would be too obvious and stuffed it into her bag instead.

Once she was satisfied her outfit for the day was perfect, Lily slung on her backpack and flew down the stairs.

"Your backpack isn’t zipped up!"

"It’s on purpose, Dad! I love you! Bye, Dad!"

By the time the words were out, Lily had already dashed down the stairs and out the front door.

She’d originally planned to casually take out the water bottle during class, but she had to wait until the break after second period for the perfect opportunity.

She "casually" placed the water bottle on her desk, the LV logo facing outward and the LW collaboration logo facing the aisle—the direction with the most foot traffic.

Then she opened a textbook and pretended to read, all the while scanning her surroundings from the corner of her eye to see if anyone had noticed.

But no one did.

The girls in her class didn’t seem to recognize it at all as the fashion item everyone had been scrambling to get just a couple of days ago. People came and went. Even when one of Lily’s close friends came over to chat, she just gave the water bottle a passing compliment without asking about the price or where the design came from.

After watching for a while, Lily started to feel a little deflated.

But soon, she spotted her targets—Dasha and Bobby were just passing the doorway. They glanced at her, then quickly averted their eyes.

’They definitely saw my water bottle.’ Lily had caught their fleeting expressions.

She grabbed her empty water bottle and hurried after them, staging a very deliberate "chance" encounter.

"Morning, Dasha!" Lily called out cheerfully. "I didn’t see you at our last equestrian lesson."

"Oh, we had something come up," Dasha explained. "I caught a cold when we went skiing in Italy, so I had to miss one."

Lily froze. She hadn’t managed to pull off her own flex, and Dasha had already one-upped her.

’Damn it,’ she thought. ’I knew I shouldn’t have asked.’

"Um..." She casually swung the water bottle in her hand. "Are you guys going to get some water? We could go together."

Dasha and Bobby glanced at each other, then shook their heads in unison. "No, we’re not."

Lily was about to find another excuse to show it off, but Dasha and Bobby didn’t give her the chance. They just walked away.

Dejected, Lily could only walk back with her water bottle.

Watching Lily walk away, Dasha and Bobby started whispering.

"Do you think that thing is real or fake? I saw that right, didn’t I?"

"I bet it’s fake," Dasha said dismissively. "They’re going for over 40,000 USD on the secondary market. Even if her dad bought it for her, he wouldn’t let her actually use it to fill with water."

"But her brother is Li Wei, the superstar," Bobby said, hesitating. "It wouldn’t be a big deal for him to set one aside for Lily Cervantes, would it?"

"Ugh, this is so annoying! I said it’s fake, so it’s fake!" Dasha snapped. "Are you going to listen to me or to her? If you like her so much, why don’t you go be friends with her?"

"Of course I’m listening to you," Bobby said quickly. "It’s definitely a fake."

That evening, when Don Quixote came home, he found that Lily had put the water bottle back in its box and placed it in her glass display cabinet.

"What’s wrong?" he asked, looking at Lily’s back and teasing her. "The water bottle not working out for you?"

"N-No... I didn’t use it!" Lily said without looking up. "I just think it’s too much of a waste to actually use it. It’s better to put it away. It might even appreciate in value."

Don Quixote chuckled. He didn’t call her bluff and quietly left the room.

「Meanwhile, at Dasha’s house, a similar conversation was taking place.」

"Daddy," Dasha whined, clinging to her father, "I saw this water bottle I really want... It’s LV, and it’s a little expensive..."

"A water bottle? Why does it have to be LV?" her father asked, confused. "Can’t you just get a regular one?"

"But this one is a collaboration with a designer I really love," Dasha said. "I just have to have it."

"How much is it?" Her father considered it. "If it’s more than 3,000 USD, forget it."

"The retail price is exactly 2,999 USD!" Dasha said, excitedly hugging her father’s potbelly. "Daddy, you’re the best! Can you get one for me on the secondary market?"

"The secondary market? You want to buy one that someone else has already drunk out of?"

"No one actually drinks from these! It’s a collector’s item!"

"Fine. How much is it on the secondary market?"

"F-Forty... seven thousand USD?"

"How much?!"

「On Friday, Jin Heon parked her 911 in a flurry outside the dorm building, grabbed her bag, and rushed inside to start putting on some light makeup.」

That morning, she had picked up her own of the limited-edition sports water bottles from the entryway of Li Wei’s house.

During the project, she’d coordinated with all three parties online and had seen the design drafts and initial prototypes. But now that she was holding the finished product, she couldn’t help but admire the work of a veteran luxury brand. After a few minor tweaks to the details, it was probably even less practical, but it certainly looked more expensive.

She carried the box upstairs and back to her dorm room.

When she pushed the door open, her roommate, Jessica, was sitting cross-legged on her bed. A business suit and slacks were hanging nearby. On the laptop in front of her, she had both LinkedIn and Indeed open, and the desk was littered with printed-out résumés and draft cover letters.

It was the last semester of senior year, with less than four months until graduation. Nearly all the prospective graduates from New York University’s Public Relations and Brand Communication program were frantically applying for jobs, and Jessica was no exception.

"Where’d you go?" Jessica asked without looking up. "You were gone all morning."

"Just had to pick something up," Jin Heon said, casually placing the box on her desk. She sat down at her vanity to touch up her makeup. "You’re not going out today?"

"Not until I’m done with these applications," Jessica said with a grimace. "I applied to fourteen places yesterday and I’m still waiting to hear back. The assistant position at Edelman wants more than three years of experience. Why is everything so ridiculous now?"

Edelman was the world’s largest PR firm and had once been one of Jin Heon’s dream companies, too.

Jin Heon just hummed in response, not adding anything as she focused on shaping her brows with a pencil.

Jessica stretched, and her gaze happened to fall on the box next to Jin Heon.

The monogram print, the metal-reinforced corners, the LV logo.

"What did you buy?" Jessica asked offhandedly.

"I didn’t buy it. It’s from work."

Jin Heon regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth. She was usually vague about her job, only telling Jessica that she worked for Li Wei without ever getting into the specifics of her role.

Sure enough, Jessica’s attention was now completely diverted from her résumés.

"They’re that generous over at Li Wei’s company? They just hand out LV products?" She hopped off her bed and walked over to Jin Heon’s desk.

"It’s just... a collaboration item," Jin Heon tried to deflect. "It’s not a big deal."

"A collaboration?" Jessica looked at the box with the LV × LW branding and pulled out her phone to search for it. "I wonder if this is worth anything... If it is, you totally lucked out—HOLY CRAP! What the fuck? Over 40,000 USD?!"

Her words trailed off into a shriek of disbelief.

Jin Heon slapped her forehead. ’Why couldn’t I keep my mouth shut?’

"Wait a second..." Jessica mumbled, still scrolling through the search results. "LW brand’s Chief Operating Officer, Jin Heon, is reportedly a current student in the Public Relations and Brand Communication program at New York University..."

"Jin Heon!" Jessica’s voice jumped an octave. "You’re Li Wei’s COO?!"

The dorm room fell silent for about three seconds.

"Um... I guess you could say that?" Jin Heon put down her eyebrow pencil and rubbed her nose, flustered.

Jessica’s mouth hung open. Her eyes darted back and forth between Jin Heon and her phone screen several times before she finally plopped down onto Jin Heon’s bed.

"You’ve got to be kidding me," she said, her tone complex and her smile stiff. "We’re in the same Crisis PR in Practice class. You sit right in front of me. At the beginning of the semester, you had to borrow my textbook to make copies, and now you’re the COO of a brand?"

"Well..." Jin Heon didn’t know how to explain.

"You’re just too lucky, Jin Heon," Jessica said with a dry laugh. "I interviewed at Wanbo Xuanwei three times and got rejected every time, and you just get to skip the entry-level grind and become a COO."

Jin Heon could hear the bitter undertone in Jessica’s voice, but she didn’t argue or mention how exhausting her own job was.

"It’s not that big of a deal," she said, just smiling as she capped her eyebrow pencil. "Being the COO of a startup can’t compare to a role at a big corporation."

"A startup? You call Li Wei’s company a startup?" Jessica rolled her eyes. "An industry watch report just valued the brand at one billion USD. You still call that a startup?"

Jin Heon’s hand froze for a second.

"What report was that?" she asked, trying to sound as casual as possible. "Mind sending it to me?"

"I’ll send you the link," Jessica said, scrolling through her phone for a moment. "I just saw it."

Jin Heon’s phone lit up, but she didn’t look at it. Instead, she unhurriedly finished her makeup.

"I’ve got to head out," she said, grabbing her bag and tidying her desk. "I have an appointment with my advisor."

"Go on, then, COO," Jessica said, having already climbed back onto her bed. Her tone was hard to read—somewhere between teasing and wistful. "I’ll get back to my applications."

Jin Heon just smiled without another word, closing the door behind her as she left the dorm.